Author Spotlight - Liz Fielding

I've been a fan of Liz's since I first started reading Mills & Boon Romances (which wasn't as long ago as that might seem!) Her books consistently manage to move me both to tears and laughter. So I am especially delighted to host her here in our Spotlight today. Welcome. Liz.

1. Tell our readers a little bit about yourself.

My first romance, An Image of You, was published in December 1992, so this year marks the twentieth anniversary of my career as a published romance writer. The changes during that time have been extraordinary. Where I once sat in isolation, writing stories for people who would occasionally put pen to paper and tell me how much they appreciated them, I now chat daily with a supportive coterie of authors and readers in a worldwide community of romance lovers.

In my real world, I’ve been married for 40 years to the same man, have two fabulous grown-up children, two lovely granddaughters and I live in the mystical south-west of England within the triangle of Stonehenge, Glastonbury and my favourite city, the Regency playground of Bath.

2. What number book is this? First? 100th? 200th?(Nora only!)

The Last Woman He’d Ever Date is my sixty-first for Harlequin Mills and Boon – my sixty-fourth in all.

3. Everyone who writes knows it's not easy - what methods do you use to keep at it on days when it would be so much easier to go shoe shopping?

It’s discipline. It’s my job. Shoe shopping is for the weekends.

4. What is your top promo tip for other authors?

That is just so hard. You create a website that showcases your work. If you’re happy blogging, then keep it short and interesting. Treat your followers on twitter and facebook like people, not just a sales opportunity. And remember that none of it works if you spend so much time on social network that you’re not producing the books.

5. How does writing fit into your day? Or does your day fit in around your writing?

I get up early – around six o’clock and work until lunchtime. The afternoon is for research, housework (aka thinking time) and gardening.

6. Is there a book you haven't written yet that you're dying to? What genre?

I get asked this so often and yes, I have a romcom/crime book — a cross between Katie Fforde and Jennifer Crusie on my back burner. It’s about time I stopped talking about it and got writing!

7. Any craft books you recommend?

Kate Walker’s 12 Point Guide to Writing Romance is brilliant. And I’d also recommend Save the Cat by Blake Snyder – it’s a screen writing book, but full of great stuff.

8. Keeping fit: Do you have an exercise regime to counterbalance all those hours sitting at a computer?

No, and that has to change. My hips complain if I ask too much of them, but we have swimming pool quite near and my plan is to cut down on the carbs and take to the water.

9. In what way is being a published writer different to how you thought it would be?

I’m sure most unpublished writers think that getting published is the end. That you have arrived and after that it’s going to be easy. It’s not, it’s just the beginning. I went to hear Ben Kane and Val McDermid talk at our local library a couple of weeks ago and they both said the same. Each book is like the first. You’re back to square one. The technique gets stronger, but your standard gets higher and achieving the vision of the story in your head is always at the end of the rainbow.

10. Just for fun: a year from the end of the book, where would your couple go on holiday?

Italy. Claire would want to see the fabulous gardens, Hal would want to indulge her. And after all that walking they’d spend some time in one of those steep little villages on the coast to relax in the sun, drink wonderful wine and eat the fabulous food.

11. Could you be friends with any of your heroines?

I hope I write characters that my readers would want as a best friend but if I had to choose I’d want Amy Jones in The Bachelor’s Baby (and a bit player in several other books) as a best friend. And Belle in Reunited: Marriage in a Million.

Tall, dark and brooding — and back for good!

Claire Thackery: Hardworking single mom, working for the local newspaper. Hoping for the inside scoop on sexy billionaire Hal North, aka her teenage crush, to get her career back on track.
Most wary of: Gorgeous men who set hr heart racing. (Been there — using the T-shirt as a duster — and has the baby to prove it.)

Hal North: Bad boy made good. Back in his hometown as new owner of the Cranbrook Park estate, with some scores to settle.
Most wary of: Journalists — especially pretty ones, like his new tenant, Claire Thackeray.


The Last Woman He'd Ever Date is available from Amazon, Amazon UK and direct from Mills & Boon / Harlequin.


You can follow Liz on her blog and on Twitter.

Author Spotlight - Liz Fielding

Today the Minxes are pleased and super excited to feature RITA winning Romance author, Liz Fielding.

1. Where were you in your writing career 5 years ago?

Five years? I had just written my second Rita® winning book, THE MARRIAGE MIRACLE, so I was on a bit of a career high.

2. Where did you get the idea from for this particular book?

It’s always difficult to pinpoint the moment when an idea gels in the mind. At some point I got caught up in the whole idea of a Santa’s Grotto story, with my heroine hiding out – and in my head it will always be Santa’s Secret Elf. MISTLETOE & THE LOST STILETTO is, as the shoe connection suggests, pure Cinderella!

3. Where do you hope to be in 5 years time?

Well, another Rita® would be great but I hope I’ll still be writing the kind of books that readers want to buy. And who knows, maybe I’ll have finished one of the longer books tucked up in the dustier corners of my computer’s memory.

4. Which was the last book you read that you wish you'd written?

Well, pretty much anything that Barbara O’Neal has written in the last year or two. Julie Cohen’s “Girl From Mars”, Susanna Kearsley’s “Sophia’s Secret” – not that I’ll ever write an historical.

5. Was there any particular author or book that made you want to be a writer?

Not unless you’re prepared to go back as far as Enid Blyton, Noel Streatfield and Pamela Brown. Although I think Noel and Pamela were more responsible for firing my desire to be an actress. I always loved to read and I always wanted to write. It took me a while, but I finally got there. (The acting career was strictly amateur!)

6. What's the most romantic moment of your life so far?

Oh, golly gosh. It was over forty years ago when the best beloved took me to Victoria Falls for our first date. It would seem pathetic if nothing more romantic than that had happened to me since. Takes some beating though. :)

7. What do you wish you'd known about being an author before you were pubbed?

That it’s hard work. That it doesn’t get any easier. How much fun it was being with other authors – romance novelists know how to party! I really wished I’d joined the Romantic Novelists’ Association while I was still trying to get published, for the support and help they give new writers. I wish I’d never bought that size larger skirt when sitting at the keyboard began to take its toll on my waistline and had gone on a diet instead.

8. What's the best writing advice you've ever been given?

Make a scene of it. I’d underplayed a scene where jealousy flared up in my poor heroine’s heart and my editor told me to always make a scene of it. Use the feelings. Dig deep for the emotion.

9. What does the new Riva imprint mean for you?

It’s always exciting to be involved in a new venture. The Romance/Cherish series has always be filled with great writers, great stories with a very wide appeal, but that sweet/pink image tends to suggest the books your grandmother might have read. This is very far from the case, but the Riva series will present these books to the younger audience who loved Bridget Jones and the Shopaholic books.

10. Tell us about your Riva launch release.

My first RIVA book is TEMPTED BY TROUBLE. My heroine, Elle, is struggling to hold hearth and home together for her sisters and her grandmother and the last thing she needs is to be lumbered with a superannuated ice cream van. The lumberer – the very fit, Sean – is another matter altogether. She’s tempted. And he’s trouble.

11. What’s next for you?

I’m in the middle of writing a book set in Rome at the moment, somewhat hampered by the fact that my research trip was cancelled due to volcanic ash earlier in the year. I’ll just have to rely on my memory! After that, I might just write a book about Elle’s sister – the one who plans to be a millionaire by the time she’s twenty-five.

Thanks so much for being with us at such a busy time of the year, Liz! We appreciate you taking time out of your busy schedule to blog with us. We're sure all our readers will agree that the RIVA imprint looks fabulous, the Minxes can't wait to get their hands on copies of January's releases :-)

Buy Mistletoe and the Lost Stiletto here:-

Mills & Boon
Amazon UK
Amazon US